{"id":1689,"date":"2010-11-10T14:07:25","date_gmt":"2010-11-10T14:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.againstchildtrafficking.org\/?p=1689"},"modified":"2010-11-10T14:07:25","modified_gmt":"2010-11-10T14:07:25","slug":"call-for-inquiry-into-magdalene-laundries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/call-for-inquiry-into-magdalene-laundries\/","title":{"rendered":"Call for inquiry into Magdalene laundries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: http:\/\/www.irishtimes.com
\n<\/a>The Irish Times – Wednesday, November 10, 2010
\nPATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent<\/p>\n

THE IRISH Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has called on the Government to set up a statutory inquiry into treatment of women and girls in Magdalene laundries. It also said financial redress should be available to survivors.<\/p>\n

The Government said it had \u201casked the Attorney General in consultation with relevant departments to consider the IHRC\u2019s report\u201d, but expressed regret \u201cthat relevant departments were not offered an opportunity by the IHRC to contribute to the commission\u2019s considerations of this matter to facilitate a fully balanced evaluation of all the facts\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Government was \u201cconscious that the Magdalene laundries were run by a number of religious congregations\u201d and noted the IHRC would not conduct an inquiry itself.<\/p>\n

Possibly anticipating this question, commission chief executive \u00c9amonn Mac Aodha said at the press conference that an inquiry by it could not deliver the apology and redress sought from the State for the women and girls involved. \u201cWe do not have those type of powers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As to the costs of such an inquiry, commission president Dr Maurice Manning said issues at stake were so fundamental that an inquiry should go ahead. \u201cThere is no reason why it should be lengthy, as a great deal of the evidence has been gathered,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Fianna F\u00e1il TDs Tom Kitt and Michael Kennedy, Labour TD Kathleen Lynch and Independent TD Maureen O\u2019Sullivan attended the IHRC event.<\/p>\n

Speaking during the adjournment debate in the D\u00e1il last night, Mr Kitt said he strongly supported the commission\u2019s stance. Survivors \u201cshould receive an apology from the State\u201d and a distinct redress scheme for them \u201cshould be established\u201d, he said. \u201cThe survivors of the Bethany Home should be treated in the same way.\u201d He asked the Conference of the Religious in Ireland (Cori) and the four religious congregations that operated the laundries to meet the Justice For Magdalenes group \u201cto deal with the issues of records, compensation and other related matters\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last June, the Justice for Magdalenes group asked the commission to inquire into treatment of women and girls in Magdalene laundries. The commission agreed to do so, and to examine the human rights issues arising.<\/p>\n

The principal findings by the commission\u2019s inquiry, on which it based its recommendations yesterday, were that \u201cfor those girls and women who entered Magdalene laundries following a court process, there was clear State involvement in their entry to the laundries\u201d.<\/p>\n

It found questions arose \u201cas to whether the State\u2019s obligations to guard against arbitrary detention were met in the absence of information on whether and how girls and women under court processes resided in and left the laundries\u201d. It found the State may have breached the 1930 Forced Labour Convention and Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Of the Magdalene laundry in Drumcondra, Dublin, it said: \u201cThe burial, exhumation and cremation of known and unknown women from a Magdalene laundry in 1993 at High Park raises serious questions for the State in the absence of detailed legislation governing the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olive Braiden, of the commission, said: \u201cWe are dealing with a small and vulnerable group of women who the Government admitted as far back as 2001 were victims of abuse.\u201d Dr Manning said: \u201cThe State cannot abdicate from its responsibilities in relation to the treatment of women and girls in the Magdalene laundries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prof James Smith of the Justice for Magdalenes group said \u201cthe Government must move beyond its \u2018deny \u2019til they die\u2019 policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maeve O\u2019Rourke, co-author of the group\u2019s submission to the commission, said the State \u201cmust convince the church to acknowledge its part in this scandal, and to open up its records\u201d. It should also call on the church \u201cto pay its share of compensation to survivors\u201d.
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: http:\/\/www.irishtimes.com The Irish Times – Wednesday, November 10, 2010 PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent THE IRISH Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has called on the Government to set up a statutory inquiry into treatment of women and girls in Magdalene laundries. It also said financial redress should be available to survivors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1689"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1689"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1691,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1689\/revisions\/1691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}